Robots is a 2005 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios for 20th Century Fox. Chris Wedge directed it and Jerry Davis, William Joyce, and John C. Donkin produced it. It features the voices of Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Greg Kinnear, Mel Brooks, Amanda Bynes, Drew Carey, and Robin Williams.^[4]

Originally developing a film version of Joyce's book Santa Calls, Wedge and Joyce then decided to develop an original story about a world of robots.^[5] The film grossed $260.7 million on a $75 million budget.

Plot

In Rivet Town, Rodney Copperbottom is a young inventor who dreams of making the world a better place. He idolizes Bigweld, a master inventor and owner of Bigweld Industries. During Rodney's adolescence, he invents a gadget called the Wonderbot, intended to help his father Herb clean dishes at a restaurant. When Herb's supervisor confronts them, Wonderbot breaks the dishes, causing Herb to be put in debt and Rodney to be dismissed. Rodney takes his invention to Robot City to see Bigweld and get a job as an inventor at Bigweld Industries so that he can help Herb pay back his supervisor. Herb encourages him by confiding that he has always regretted not pursuing his dream of becoming a musician. Rodney arrives in Robot City and meets outmoded robot Fender Pinwheeler. After a spectacular but harrowing ride on the Crosstown Express, Rodney arrives at the gate of Bigweld Industries.

However, he learns that Phineas T. Ratchet has taken over Bigweld Industries and is about to discontinue the manufacture of spare parts. Ratchet believes the company can make a bigger profit if it focuses on selling expensive upgrades; if the robots refuse, they are sent to the underground Chop Shop, where they are shredded and melted down by the owner of the Chop Shop, Madame Gasket, Ratchet's mother. Rodney is forced out and shares quarters with Fender at a low-rent boarding house owned by Aunt Fanny. This house is also occupied by a group of other outmoded robots threatened with the Chop Shop called the "Rusties", consisting of Fender, his sister Piper, Crank, Lugnut, and Diesel. When news gets out that spare parts have been discontinued by Bigweld Industries, Rodney begins fixing old robots on his own. Upon discovering this, Gasket orders Ratchet to stop Rodney and destroy Bigweld.

Rodney later receives news that Herb needs replacement parts. Rodney decides to contact Bigweld directly to beg him to restart the manufacture of spare parts. Wonderbot reminds him that Bigweld will show up at the annual Bigweld Ball, which takes place that night. Rodney and Fender go to the ball in disguise only to hear Ratchet announce that Bigweld was unable to attend. Rodney confronts Ratchet, but security stops him. Cappy, a beautiful robot-executive of the company who dislikes Ratchet's plan, saves him, and together with Fender and his new girlfriend Loretta Geargrinder, they escape from the ball.

After Fender walks Loretta home, he is taken to the Chop Shop by Gasket, but he escapes. Meanwhile, Rodney and Cappy fly to Bigweld's home and meet him. Rodney asks Bigweld to return to his company and make spare parts available again, but Bigweld refuses, explaining that Ratchet forced him out of the company. Rodney calls his parents, intending to give up his dream and return to Rivet Town, but Herb encourages Rodney to continue pursuing it. Rodney rallies the Rusties into fighting back against Ratchet and Gasket. Fender reveals that, under Gasket's orders, Ratchet has built a fleet of super-sweepers with the intention of rounding up and destroying all of the older robots. Bigweld eventually comes with the group, having realized what Rodney meant to him.

At Bigweld Industries, Bigweld dismisses Ratchet, but Ratchet hits him over the head with a phone. This sends Bigweld insane and eventually leads into a chase. Bigweld is repaired just as they enter the Chop Shop, but is captured by Gasket. A battle ensues between the Rusties and Ratchet and Gasket's henchmen. During the chaos, Rodney rescues Bigweld, the choppers and sweepers are destroyed, Wonderbot engages Gasket in combat, and she is eventually destroyed when she gets tossed into the furnace, while Ratchet loses his upgrades. Retaking control of Bigweld Industries, Bigweld goes to Rivet Town to tell Rodney's parents that their son is now his right-hand inventor and eventual successor. Rodney makes his father's dream of being a musician come true by giving him a three-bell trumpet and the audience dances to James Brown's "Get Up Offa That Thing" as a victory celebration (sung by Diesel, having received a brand new voice box from Bigweld).

Cast

Locations

Movie director Chris Wedge says New York City, Toronto and London, inspired him to make the city. There are three parts of the city: High End District: The part of the city where the rich and famous robots live. Buildings and robots are all shiny and nearly everything is futuristic. Everyone here has a metal covering that hides all their inner workings. Bigweld Industries is here. Combustion District: Low-class place. It has numerous rust spots, and robots have the internal workings similar to a 1950s car at best. Aunt Fanny's house is here, and the majority of the movie takes place here. Steam District: The lowest part of the city, and therefore the rustiest. Parts of the district resemble the inventions of the Industrial Revolution, and everywhere is filled with broken machines. Sweepers grab old robots and bring them to Madame Gasket's Chop Shop, where mutant robots then break and melt robots, turning them into upgrades. Another major location of the film is Rivet Town, home to the Copperbottom family. Two of the buildings there are Gunk's Greasy Spoon and Flathead Floyd's. Rivet Town is based on Watertown, New York, where movie director Chris Wedge lived during his teens^[8].

Release

Robots was originally scheduled for a 2004 release,^[9] but the release date was changed to 2005. The film premiered on March 6, 2005 in Westwood, Los Angeles,^[1][7] and it was released theatrically on March 11, 2005. The film was the first to feature the new trailer for Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. The film also featured the exclusive trailer for Ice Age: The Meltdown, then called Ice Age 2.^[10] Robots was digitally re-mastered into IMAX format (IMAX DMR) and released in select IMAX theatres around the world. It was the first Twentieth Century Fox's film that was released on the same day on IMAX and conventional 35mm screens. It was also the first IMAX DMR film released in the Spring season, and the second IMAX DMR film distributed by Fox.^[11]

Home media

The film, relreased on DVD and VHS on September 27, 2005,^[12] was accompanied by an original short animated film based on Robots, titled Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty.^[13][14] The film was released in high-definition on Blu-ray disc on March 22, 2011.^[15]

Reception

Critical reaction

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 64% based on 177 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Robots delights on a visual level, but the story feels like it came off an assembly line."^[16] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, gave a score of 64 based on 33 reviews.^[17] Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four, stating that "this is a movie that is a joy to behold entirely apart from what it is about. It looks happy, and, more to the point, it looks harmonious."^[18]

Box office

The film was released March 11, 2005 in the United States and Canada and grossed $36 million in 3,776 theaters its opening weekend, ranking #1 at the box office.^[19] It grossed a total of $260.7 million worldwide – $128.2 million in the United States and Canada and $132.5 million in other territories.^[20]

Accolades

The film was nominated for many awards in the category of best animated film, as well as awards for character design, best animated character, voice casting, and sound editing. However, it only won one, the MTV (Mexico) Movie Award for best song, "Un Héroe Real".^{[citation needed]}

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2008: AFI's 10 Top 10: Nominated Animation Film^[21]

Music

Soundtrack

Robots: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on March 1, 2005 by Virgin Records.^[22]

Other songs in the film include

• "Underground" - Tom Waits
• "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" - Barry White
• "...Baby One More Time" - Britney Spears
• "See Me" - Melanie Blatt
• "Eye of the Tiger" - Survivor
• "From Zero to Hero" - Sarah Connor
• "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" - C+C Music Factory and Freedom Williams

Score

Robots: Original Motion Picture Score was composed by John Powell and was released on March 15, 2005 by Varèse Sarabande Records.^[23]

Video game

Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty

Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty is a five-minute computer-animated film that was included as a bonus feature on the DVD and VHS releases of Robots. In the short, Aunt Fanny gives a tour of the Robot City Train Station to motley collection of robots, including Fender Pinwheeler, Zinc, Tammy, Hacky and an Old Lady-Bot.^[13][14]

• Official website
• Robots on IMDb
• Robots at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• Robots at AllMovie
• Robots at Rotten Tomatoes
• Robots at Metacritic
• Robots at Box Office Mojo